Bus Trip

This past weekend I had the chance to join a retreat trip with a local Portuguese church. We visited some cities north of Lisbon. One of the other teachers from school, Anna went with me. We were the only 2 American's on the trip with about 40-50 Portuguese. Our first stop was Obidos, a walled in city with a picturesque medieval appearance. The bus was on a pretty strict schedule so we only had about about 30 minutes to walk around. The weather was overcast and rainy all day but despite the raindrops we made the most of the sightseeing time. I loved the quaint look of the narrow streets and the way the trees have been made to grow right alongside the buildings.

The second stop we made was in Aveiro, a city that dates back to the 10th century. This town is know as the "Portuguese Venice" because of the canals and boats that are reminiscent of Venice, Italy. There were tornado warnings in central/northern Portugal over the weekend which brought strong rain, winds, and even flooding near the coast.

We spent the night in Esmoriz at a Bible Camp. Esmorz is a town located just south of Porto in northern Portugal. Across the street from the Camp was a gym where 2 Portuguese teams were playing a volleyball match. It was fun to watch part of the game. (Anna and I played with the teachers last Friday against the students. I'm happy to report that the teachers won 2 out of 3 games!!)

Saturday morning we rode the bus into Porto and had a little bit of time to walk around the streets and take in the older section of town. Again it was cold and rainy but that made the sky look dramatic in some of my pictures. It was another fun trip to see part of northern Portugal. I also enjoyed getting to meet some new people and be immersed in Portuguese for 2 days! Anna commented to me that if we did trips like this every weekend we'd pick up Portuguese quickly. The laughter and new sights were a refreshing change from my usual weekend spent at the apartment. I enjoyed sampling some yummy pastries at different cafes we stopped at. I've learned that the Portuguese like to take coffee stops!